The Sassanian kings raised Persia to a height of power and prosperity such as it never before attained, and more than once imperilled the existence of the East- ern empire. The last king was driven from the throne by the Arabs (A.D. 6oO), who now began to extend their dominion in all directions; and from this period maj' be dated the gradual change of character in the native Persian race, for they have been from this time constantly subject to the domination of alien races. During the reigns of Omar (the first of tlio Arab rulers of Persia), Othman, Ali, and the Omniiades (634-750), I'ersia was regarded as an outlying ])rovince of the empire, and was ruled by deputy governors; but after the accession of the Abbaside dynasty (A.D. 750), Bag-
dad became tlie capital, and Khorassan the favorite province of the earh' and more energetic rulers of this race, and Persia consequenth' came to be considered as the centre and nucleus of the caliphate. But the rule of the caliphs soon became merely nominal, and ambitious governors, or other aspiring individuals, es- tablished independent principalities in various parts of the country. INIany of these dynasties were transi- tory, others lasted for centuries, and created extensive and powerful empires. The chief were the Taherites (820-872), a Turkisli dynasty, in Khorassan ; the Sof- farides (Persian, 869-903), in Seistan, Ears, Irak, and Mazanderan; the Samani, in Transoxiana, Khorassan, and Seistan ; the Dilemi (Persian, 933-1056), in West- ern Persia ; and the Ghiznevides, in Eastern Persia. These dynasties supplanted each other, and were fi- nally rooted out b}' the Seljnks, whose dominion ex- tended from the Hellespont to Afghanistan. A branch of this dynasty, which ruled in Khorezm (now Khi- va), graduall}' acquired the greater part of Persia, driving out the Ghiznevides and their successors, the Ghurides; but they, along with the numerous petty dynasties which had established themselves in the south-western provinces, were all swept away by the Mongols (q. v.) under Genghis- Khan and his grand- son Hulaku-Klian, tlie latter of whom founded a new dynasty, the Perso-Mongol (1253-1335). This race, becoming effeminate, was supplanted by the Eylkhan- ians in 1335, but an irruption of the Tartars of Turkes- tan under Timur again freed Persia from the petty dj-- nasties which misruled it. After the death of Timur's son and successor, shah Rokh, the Turkomans took possession of the western part of the country, which, however, they rather preyed upon than governed ; while the eastern portion was divided and subdivided among Timur's descendants, till, at the close of the 15th century, they were swept awaj' by the LTzbeks, who joined the whole of Eastern Persia to their newly founded khanate of Khiva. A new dynasty now arose (1500) in Western Persia, the first prince of which (Ismail, the descendant of a long line of devotees and saints, the objects of the highest reverence througliout Western Persia), having become the leader of a num- ber of Turkish tribes who were attached bj' strong ties of gratitude to his family, overthrew the power of the Turkomans, and seized Azerbijan, which was the seat of their power. Ismail rapidly subdued the western provinces, and in 1511 took Khorassan and Balkh from the Usbeks; but in 1514 he had to encounter a much more formidable enemy — to wit, the mighty Selim (q. v.), the sultan of Turkey, whose zeal for conquest was further inflamed by religious animosity against the Shiites, or " Sectaries," as the followers of Ismail were termed. The Persians were totally defeated in a battle on the frontiers; but Selim reaped no benefit from his victory, and, after his retreat, Ismail attacked and subdued Georgia. The Persians dwell with rapt- ure on the character of this monarch, whom they deem not only to be the restorer of Persia to a prosperous condition, and the founder of a great dj'nast}', but the establisher of the f.iith in which they glorj' as the na- tional religion. His son Tamasp (1523-1576), a pru- dent and spirited ruler, repeatedh' drove out the pred- atory I'zbcks from Khorassan, sustained without loss a war witli the Turks, and assisted Homayun, the son of Baber, to regain the throne of Delhi. After a con- siderable period of internal revolution, during whicli the Turks and Uzbeks attacked the empire without hinderance, shah Abbas I the Great (1585-1628) as- cended the throne, restored internal tranquillity, and repelled the invasions of the Uzbeks and Turks. In 1605 he inflicted on the Turks such a terrililc defeat as kept thcni quiet during the rest of iiis reign, and ena- bled him to recover the whole of Kurdistan, Mosul, and Diarl)ekir, which had for a long time Ijeen separated from Persia ; and, in tlie cast, Candahar was taken from the Great Mogul. Abbas's government was strict, but
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